In what may turn out to be a very smart move for Apple, they are launching a social network called Ping. Ping is part of the latest iTunes, iTunes 10, and leverages their existing user base. Its members can discover music socially, follow others, be followed and — much like Twitter and Tumblr — post their thoughts and opinions. 

Just a few years ago (August 9, 2006, to be exact), MySpace annonced that its 100 millionth account was created. A few years later, in December of 2008, Facebook boasted over 125 million users. With over 160 million iTunes users in 23 countries, Apple's foray into social networking could become a great way for Apple to leverage its incredibly loyal iTunes user base.

Music has always been a great subject of discussion and opionion, so it makes sense that users would appreciate this kind of social ability. In hindsight, if Apple had rolled Ping out sooner, it could have grown user interaction with iTunes much more quickly — and substantially.

Caught these gems on Design Mom via Unplggd — vintage Facebook, Skype, YouTube and Twitter ads designed by a Sao Paulo ad agency called Moma as a part of their “Everything Ages Fast” ad campaign.

 Looks like Don and Peggy had a hand in these. Ironically, they do a great job of explaining the core function of each platform.

Ah, things were so much simpler back then.

     

Click here to download:

nifty-cdjxfzpydwCoowGkjduk.zip (330 KB)

It's not just moms ruining Facebook anymore, grandmas are getting in on the game too.The Pew Rearch Center reports between April 2009 and May 2010:

• Social networking use among internet users ages 50 and older nearly doubled — from 22% to 42%.
• Social networking use among those ages 65 and older grew 100% — from 13% to 26%.
• By comparison, social networking use among users ages 18-29 grew by 13% — from 76% to 86%.

 Mary Madden, Senior Research Specialist and author of the report goes on to explain:

Young adults continue to be the heaviest users of social media, but their growth pales in comparison with recent gains made by older users. Email is still the primary way that older users maintain contact with friends, families and colleagues, but many older users now rely on social network platforms to help manage their daily communications.

With the older demographic growing at such a rate, it will be interesting to see how advertising changes to catch this audience. Companies with a upper-aged audience might have to rethink, or in some cases start thinking about, their social media strategy.

Weinstein sees Facebook as a different place than it used to be. He thinks college kids need a place to share photos and flirt with crushes. In essence CollegeOnly is giving back college students the home that was taken over by mom and granny.

It's not new news that college kids have been displaced due to Facebooks popularity. Will these niche communities be a successful strategy or will they just fracture an already small social network?

No one says your new Facebook friends have to land on your Wall, where they might see customer complaints or, if you're not monitoring your page as you should, spam. Inspired Magazine has 50 custom Facebook landing pages to give you some inspiration.

I Woo You is MTV's latest social game on the Facebook platform, their first attempt at Facebook gaming being Jersey Shore. Their first attempt at social gaming overall was the microsite Next or Not, and they also created Chain of Though on MTV.com. Since then they've acquired Social Express to bring their gaming development in-house.

Obviously social gaming is proving to be a powerful connection to the MTV demographic and they're trying it out on multiple platforms. I'd love to see some success metrics around their use of gaming and see which platform works best for them.

Flipboard takes all of the social media content you follow and collects it into one well designed "magazine," while still giving you the ability to interact with that content. As Flipboard's CEO Mike McCue put it, "A magazine is so much more beautiful than what's online. Content online still lives as if it's the mid-1990s. [It] perfectly matches what you would expect a social magazine to be in, the kind of thing you can hold in your hand and flip through pages."

Do you think users want the feel of an old-school magazine for their new media?

Another day another Facebook privacy concern. Facebook launched Places, their geolocation check-in feature. Mashable has a good beginner's guide with all the details, including how to use it to promote your business.

It seems to be the trend that there's a privacy concern with every new Facebook feature, and Places is no different. This time it's that friends can check you into Places without your consent, inviting others to rob you while you're away.

Luckily, there are some pretty simple steps to protect yourself from this option:

1. Go to privacy settings
2. Go to "customize"
3. Scroll to "things others share"
4. Disable "friends can check me into places."

Excuse me while I go change my privacy settings.

How to do you get kids at summer camp to stay connected to your brand? First, build them a branded summer camp, like the Coca-Cola Village. Then, build real life Like buttons around the camp so they can share what a great time they're having with all their friends back home and on Facebook. And make it all possible though the ease and magic of RFID.

The project brief gives us the details:

Once in the village, each guest will receive a bracelet ID which transmits an RFID signal. The guests will then be able to use the bracelet in order to 'perform Like' in each of the Coca-Cola Village facilities. For example, a guest that like the pool can place his/her bracelet to the readable RFID device that is next to the pool, and automatically a Facebook message will appear on his/her wall stating the he 'Liked' the pool at the Village. In addition, a photographer will be present around the Viallage, taking pictures of the guests while also carrying an RFID device. This will allow each guest that is pictured to 'Touch' the photographer, and that guest's picture will be automatically uploaded to the Coca-Cola Village Facebook page, already 'tagged.'

Kids get to brag how much fun they're having and Coke gets plenty of new photos, friends and Likes to their Facebook page. Talk about summer fun.

Casey Neistat of the Neistat Brothers and iPod's Dirty Secret nails it with their A Movie for Anyone on Facebook.

I admit I don't fully understand Facebook's privacy settings. Have you actually read the user agreement?